But they never give us a vaccine for cooties. I think there must be a conspiracy there, somewhere.

I read a comic today.  My reading ability seems to be better.  Still far below what it was since I turned 8 years old, but better than it's been for the last year and a half.  Which is about the only good thing I have to say about the comic.

Frank Miller recently wrote another part of his Dark Knight universe.  The first one is legendary and I'm actually tempted to see if I can re-read it for the first time in many years.  The second one was goofy in a really awesome way.  I hadn't enjoyed the DC characters that much in a long time and the story was rather unnerving, considering 9/11 happened as it came out, adding to the sense that Miller was still on the cutting edge back then.  I did read the third one, co-written by Brian Azzarello, I even reviewed it in some previous book.  It wasn't horrible but it was entirely forgettable, a generic superhero story that had vague connections to the comics that made Miller who he was.

The Golden Child doesn't even do that much.  It's just one long fight scene, horrible repetitive dialogue, horrible repetitive dialogue and it's all one long fight scene.  I barely have a clue who the characters are and they have nothing in common with the ones we used to know.  Remember the girl who became Robin?  She's now Batwoman and there is no Batman.  Remember Superman's daughter from the first sequel?  She's still there and completely unlikeable.  And that's it.

The villain is Darkseid and the Joker makes appearances.  A note in the backpages says Miller intended there to be absolutely no explanation of why he's alive now, that's standard procedure here.  There's pictures of Donald Trump who has something to do with the villains but since there's no story, there's nothing to go on.  I assume this was the whole reason Miller did it but it doesn't come clue.

The art is just bad.  I have no idea if the artist should be blamed or modern comics production.  Modern computer comics coloring is hideous and the art seems intended to match it, not just this guy whom I'm not bothering to name, but in general.

The pacing could be workable if there was a story worth reading, I found myself liking the lettering which is usually a bad sign in a comic if that's what you notice.  Lettering in comics should be unnoticeable because you're focusing on what the characters are saying, or at least looking at the pictures.  But if there's nothing else grabbing your attention, that's what it is.

The ending sucked.  Darkseid never had a chance the whole time, there's no clue what the Joker was doing.  If we're going to pretend this has any connection to quality comics, it's just tearing everything down for the sake of it.  That's not Trump's fault, that's projection their own wishes on the rest of the world and have such a high opinion of themselves.

And just to add another bit of news, it's been 1981 days since it was announced that Slash and Duff would be rejoining G'n'R.  1981 days after the band's first release, the Live Like A Suicide EP, the band had just played the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and Slash had announced that they'd start touring wtih Metallica in a couple months.  Everything Guns'n'Roses is known for had been released in that same period of time, unless you're willing to count the cover album and "Sympathy For the Devil."  And Axl's solo album if you're into that.